BEE Gee Robin Gibb's widow Dwina paid her first poignant visit to the £7.5 million Bomber Command memorial yesterday - and said he would have been "overawed".

Dwina Gibb with her son RJ and presenter Mike Reid at the Bomber Command Memorial []

Robin led the campaign for the memorial to the 55,573 men of Bomber Command who died taking the fight to Nazi Germany.

But he died last month after a long battle with cancer before seeing his dream come true.

And yesterday Dwina and their son, musician Robin-John, 29, joined fellow campaigner Jim Dooley and campaign supporter, DJ Mike Read, at the memorial just a week before it is formally unveiled by the Queen in London's Green Park.

She inspected the classical monument in Portland Stone and saw the seven 9ft tall statues of a Lancaster crew still wrapped in protective material.

Clearly thrilled, she said: "Robin would have been overawed. He went to see the statues being made and thought they were wonderful.

Robin Gibb would have been overawed

Dwina Gibb

"I used to take photos of the memorial every day on the way to seeing him in hospital and showed him the progress and he was thrilled by it.

"He really wanted to be here so badly, trying his best to live so he could attend the unveiling. It is such a shame he won't be there.

"These young men in Bomber Command suffered to give us our freedom. They died for the freedom of the world.

"It is part of history and a wrong has been righted at last for the veterans and their families. They did not get a medal. They got nothing. They were not even mentioned after the war. It was dreadful;."

R-J said: "This is probably the most beautiful war memorial in London. My father saw it as a crowning achievement in his life.

"More than 55,000 young men made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom."

And he once again slammed the BBC for failing to cover the unveiling later this month on its main channels.

He said: "They should put aside repeats of Cash in the Attic for one day.

"There will be veterans who are too infirm to come to the ceremony and the TV provides their only chance of seeing themselves being honoured."

Daily Express readers have raised more than £500,000 for the memorial, a sum matched personally by Daily Express owner Richard Desmond.

Other major backers include businessmen Lord Ashcroft and John Caudwell.